MARSEILLE: APL improved its performance in the first three months under the ownership of CMA CGM Group in a challenging market.

Volumes growth supported by network expansion

APL’s 3Q 2016 volume rose almost 9.9% to 1.3 million TEUs (vs. 3Q 2015). This organic growth was driven by more than 20 co-operations on new and enhanced services with CMA CGM. For example : In the Latin America trade, APL now offers its customers direct access to the Caribbean through slot swaps on the Asian Caribbean Express (ACE) service. In the Trans-Pacific where it has a leading position, APL has taken over the management of the USL business, a subsidiary within the CMA CGM Group, and as a result increased its book of business by more than 10%. In Asia-Europe, APL re-entered the direct India–Northern Europe trade through the India Pakistan Europe (IPE) service. In the Trans-Atlantic trade, APL now has access to the West Mediterranean to/from US East Coast market through the West-Med Service (WMS). APL has expanded its global network to better serve its customers, and increased its book of business.

Significant improvement in APL’s operating margin

In 3Q 2016, APL saw its operating margin improve by 40.2% per FEU from the same period in the previous year. In addition, APL’s costs decreased by 15.7% per FEU year-on-year. This reflects the progress made in APL’s continuous cost savings efforts, as well as the significant operational synergies gained through its new parent company.

In the last three months alone, 19 vessels have been cross-chartered between APL and CMA CGM to maximise utilisation. In addition, more than 6,000 TEUs of containers have been exchanged to save costs.

Leveraging the scale and resources of the combined Group, APL and CMA CGM also cooperated closely to deliver joint procurement synergies and cost savings in wide-ranging areas, including terminal charges, ship management, equipment logistics as well as intermodal and vessel feeder services.

CMA CGM’s continued commitment to Singapore

The CMA CGM Group is delivering on its commitment to enhance Singapore’s position as a key maritime hub and grow Singapore’s container throughput volumes through its joint venture with PSA Singapore Terminals.

The CMA CGM-PSA Lion Terminal started operations on 22 July 2016 with an initial two berths and a capacity of 2 million TEUs, with the aim of growing this to four berths in January 2017.

As part of its plan to make Singapore its strategic hub in Asia, CMA CGM moved its regional head office from Hong Kong to Singapore in July 2016. With APL continuing to be headquartered in Singapore, this consolidation of CMA CGM Group’s longstanding presence in Asia in Singapore will provide efficient and quality services to customers in the region.

With the backing of the CMA CGM Group and its continued development of the APL brand, APL is well-positioned for growth as it remains focused on restoring profitability by pursuing top line growth and stringent cost management.

Source: Dailyshippingtimes.com

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